Cable operation



y 1951 R. M. MAR-DONE 2,552,859

emu: OI5ERATION Filed Fab. 7, 1949 IN V EN TOR.

? (b /l o veo NWFOOA/E 71mg 22 x4 Tro/e IVE) Patented May 15, 1951 UNITED CABLE OPERATION Romeo M. Nardone, Teaneck, N. J., assignor to Joseph J. Mascuch, Maplewood, N. J.

Application February 7, 1949, Serial No. 75,005

8 Claims.

This invention relates to cable operation, and particularly to the winding of a cable on a rotatable drum, in response to application of rotative effort to such drum.

An object of the invention is to provide a rotatable drum and means associated therewith in novel fashion both for rotatably supporting the drum and for imparting driving energy theretov A second object of the invention is to provide,

interior of the drum, from one end thereof to a point adjacent the other end of the drum; the said cylinders acting as carriers for a plurality of bearing assemblies, one of which directly supports one end of the drum while the others support the gears and clutch elements by which the drums rotation is effected and controlled.

A third object is to provide, in a drum assembly including operating gears and clutch elements, novel means for controlling the clutch action; said novel means including a pair of nested sprin coils, one of which serves to maintain intermeshing clutch elements normally engaged, While the other yieldably urges the clutch disengaging linkage out of contact with the clutch elements and thereby protects such linkage against vibrational forces set up in the rotating assembly.

Other objects of the invention reside in the specific construction and inter-action of component elements of the complete invention, as will be apparent upon examinaion of the following description of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Reference number i of the drawing designates the housing of a motor having an armature shaft 2 terminating in a reduced end portion 3 provided with gear teeth to form a pinion adapted to mesh with a pair of planetary gears 4, 5 which in turn are adapted to rotate in an orbit defined by internally toothed cylinder 6; the said cylinder 5 being flanged, as indicated at 7, for attachment (by screws 8) to one of a pair of supporting plates 9, I between which is rotatably mounted the drum il.

Telescopically secured within cylinder 6, is a second cylinder l2 extending to a position of proximity to plate 9, so that the combined cylinders 6, l2 span almost the entire width of the drum I l, to serve as the supportin means for the clutch assemblies and l5-l6, as well as the planetary gear trains 4, 5, and ll, 13; the latter meshing centrally with a sun pinion I9, and peripherally with the teeth of cylinder 6. Pinion I9 is an integral part of a plate 2| carrying studs 2!, 22 and bearing assemblies 23, 24 on which the gears t, 5 revolve. Similar studs 25, 25 and bearing assemblies 21, 28 support the gears ll, [8, and pins 29, 30 secure the studs 25, 26 to the outer one of a pair of concentric barrels SI, 32 that are drivably connected by a pack of friction discs [3, of which alternate ones are splined to the outer barrel 3! While the remaining discs are splined to the inner barrel 32.

The barrel 32 has clutch teeth l5 out in its end surface to mesh with corresponding clutch teeth it on the end of a sleeve 33 splined to slide along corresponding splines of an outer sleeve 34 fastened to the end wall 3 5 or" the drum II, to transmit to the drum the rotary motion of the clutch elements l5, [6. The end wall 35 is centrally apertured to receive a ballbearing assembly 36 carried on a boss 31 integral with a supporting plate 9. Also carried by boss 31 is a rod 38 and a collar 39 shiftable with said rod to engage the rim 40 of sleeve 33, and thus interrupt the drive from clutch teeth 5 to clutch teeth it, whenever bell-crank 4| is swung about its pivot bearing 42, to move rod 38 to the left; there being a cross-pin 43 to the bifurcated end of rod 38 for engagement by the bell-crank. Outer spring '54 normally maintains the clutch parts i5, i i in engagement, While inner spring 45 exerts sufiicient pressure on collar 39 to preclude any vibratory or chattering action durin operation of the drum by way of the motor-driven gear train and clutch.

When clutch l5, i5 is disengaged, by the manual shifting of bell-crank 4| as ,just described, the drum H may be rotated manually, independently of motor I. Normally, however, the drive will be by way of motor the gear train, and the two clutch combinations l3 and I 5--!6, in series; the clutch i5-|6 being held normally engaged by spring 34, and the clutch discs 13 being of sufficient capacity to transmit the drive without slipping, except on any occasion when the load on the drum becomes eX- cessive. occurs depends upon the degree of tightening of annular adjusting nut 46 along the threads on the end of barrel 3|. Interposed between The torque value at which slipping,

orbital track for both stages of the planetary I reduction gear train. This packaging of substantially all of the transmission mechanism in the joined cylinders 6, I2 facilitates assembly and disassembly, and makes it unnecessary to resort to any complications in the structure of the drum itself.

What I claim is:

' .1.- In a cable winding mechanism, in combination with a drum, a pair of parallel supporting plates, one on either side of said drum, a first cylinder secured to one of said plates and eX- tending into said drum, in concentric relation thereto, a second cylinder telescopically received within said first cylinder, and means for rotating said drum, said means including a gear train planetating about said first cylinder, and clutch mechanism rotatably supported within said second cylinder.

2. Cable winding claim 1, wherein said drum rotating means further includes driving connections between said clutch mechanism and the side of aid drum adjacent the other of said parallel plates.

3. Cable winding mechanism as defined in claim 2, wherein said second parallel plate includes a boss aligned with said clutch mechanism, and further including means carried by said boss for rotatably upporting said driving connections.

4. In cable winding mechanism as defined in mechanism as defined in claim 3, means including a rod slidable through said boss for controlling engagement and disengagement of said clutch mechanism.

5. Cable winding mechanism as defined in claim 4, wherein said clutch controlling means further includes a collar carried by said rod, and resilient means normally holding said collar spaced away from said clutch mechanism and thereby protecting said rod against vibratory impact during operation of the clutch to transmit torque to said drum. 7.

6. Cable winding mechanism as defined in claim 5, including additional resilient means for exerting engaging pressure on said clutch mechanism.

7. In a cable winding mechanism, in combination with a drum having a pair of aligned cylinders extending into the drum, in concentric relation thereto, a gear train including reaction elements integral with one of said cylinders, and means rotatably mounted in the other of said cylinders for drivably connecting said gear trainto said drum.

8. Cable winding mechanism as defined in claim '7, wherein said connectin means includes a pre-set friction disc clutch having a toothed clutch element as an integral part thereof, a complementary clutch element aligned with said toothed clutch element, and means constantly urging said complementary clutch element toward engagement with said toothed clutch element.

ROMEO M. NARDONE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

V UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 7 Date 2,391,172 Leland Dec. 18, 1945 2,448,674 Lawler Sept. 7, 1948 

